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Lion mauls tourist to death in South African National Park

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I saw this video, the girl filming closes the door right away and they all lock their doors and laugh after almost losing their lives. How do you not lock the doors when driving by LIONS?

What do you mean, "lock the doors"? How could they open doors man? They're animals!

hudson.jpg
 

Lamel

Banned
That's unfortunate. I always lock the doors and make sure no one in my family breaks those rules when we are in a car safari park or something. Don't care if it's a giraffe, keep the window closed dammit.
this is why safety precautions should be top priority.





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LOL
 

Pimpwerx

Member
Meh. We drive around their habitat and act surprised when one of them takes a bite. I just hope they didn't end up killing this lion, just because it got a taste of human. PEACE.
 

Yrael

Member
This news has prompted an Australian family to tell their own story about a lion mauling:

A Sydney schoolgirl who was mauled by lions in South Africa after a park ranger led her into their enclosure has described hearing "lions' teeth crunching" on her head and the desperate screams of her parents as they watched the attack unfold.

[...]

Neha's father, Raghwa Sharma, a surgical pathologist at Westmead Hospital and associate professor in the School of Medicine at the University of Western Sydney, said the ranger unlocked the lion's enclosure intentionally and without warning, and invited the family to enter. He said the cage measured about five by 15 metres.

"I thought he was just taking us closer to the cage … No way would I think somebody would open the cage door," Dr Sharma said.

"But as soon as he reaches there, he unlocks it and says: 'Come in, into the cage.' "

Neha was walking several paces ahead. Within moments, Neha and the ranger had walked inside the cage, "probably five steps, six steps inside", Dr Sharma said.

By the time he had reached the cage and pulled his wife back, the lionesses had already encircled the pair, cutting them off from both Dr Sharma and his wife, and the cage door. Then they attacked.

"All hell broke loose. The lions are mauling my daughter. What can you do? You yell. You shout. There's no back-up," Dr Sharma said.

"The reception people are a good 300 metres away. Nobody listens, there's no neighbours, nothing. There's nothing for you. There's nothing left. We thought we were all going to die."

In a letter written with the encouragement of her counsellor, the schoolgirl described her excitement about the trip and her delight at being able to play with lion cubs at the lodge, before turning to the moment she was attacked.

"I'm 15 years old and have survived mauling by lions in a cage which was opened by the ranger," Neha wrote.

"The lions were as tall as me and attacked my head … I could hear lions' teeth crunching on my head and biting my arms and chest. While I was passing out I could hear mum and dad screaming for help."

The ranger pretended to be dead when the pair were attacked and did nothing to help the family, Dr Sharma said.

He said his daughter regained consciousness and was able to fight off the lions and flee the enclosure, although Neha has no recollection of this.

[...]

http://www.smh.com.au/environment/a...h-african-safari-holiday-20150604-ghghd2.html
 

Boem

Member
I did one of those tours in Kenya once, and I was really surprised by how much you can get away with. The lions you see aren't doing much - they're just chilling in the sun, and the driver will park the van right next to them without the lions reacting (even when there are a couple of them). I guess they've gotten used to those things after all those years. They're literally just one or two meters away from you while they're just dozing away, although I'm sure all hell would break loose if you got out of the car.

The completely mindfucky thing was this though. I heard beforehand that you could also pay to camp out with your own tent in the park, and I couldn't really figure out how it would work. We were sleeping in these cabin-like things in the middle of the park, but those were protected by all sorts of ways, and you certainly weren't allowed to leave that area without supervision.

When I asked him what the deal was with those people camping out in the wild, he took us to one of their camps - just couple of tents about 50 meters from where those lions were sleeping, no more. Just 5 tents, a little campfire, and that was it. It was absolutely insane to me. They were out in the open, less than a 2 minute walk from those lions. I'm still not sure that it was completely legal (which, granted, doesn't mean much in Kenya, although they've come down harder on safety in those parks in recent years).
 

Yrael

Member
Jesus. The passenger behind the SUV has recounted what happened (apparently the driver was the first to roll down his window). The description of the attack is terrifying (didn't copy that part). Poor woman.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/south-africa-lion-park-death-5831299

The SUV in front of us stopped next to two lions and the driver rolled down his window.

"The passenger did the same, I presume to get a photo.

“The male lion didn’t seem very ­interested by this and the lioness didn’t seem bothered either.

“She got up very lazily and stretched out her body. Then suddenly without warning she stood up at the window.”

He went on: “At first it just looked like an amazing shot of a lion stood up at the window.

“The lion can only have had its head in that window for around 15 seconds.

"At that moment the tourist was face to face with one of the most ferocious, incredible and magnificent animals.

“But then the lioness lunged and we saw the driver diving into the passenger seat and punching at the lioness.”

Ben said it looked like the driver had no chance of speeding off or closing the window.

Devastated, he added: “The lioness was just too powerful. It was extremely fast – all over
in a matter of a couple of minutes.

"And all we could do was hoot the horn for help.”
 
Jesus. The passenger behind the SUV has recounted what happened (apparently the driver was the first to roll down his window). The description of the attack is terrifying (didn't copy that part). Poor woman.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/south-africa-lion-park-death-5831299

By the time the gamekeepers arrived Katherine, known to pals as Katie, was dead.

Katherine, who posted a snap of her and Stephen Fry on Instagram, was in South Africa as a conservation volunteer.

thank you for these important details, the mirror
 
The ranger pretended to be dead when the pair were attacked and did nothing to help the family, Dr Sharma said.

No matter how I picture this in my head, I start laughing uncontrollably. I can't even imagine how this played out in reality, it's so cartoonish.
 
This reminds me of many years ago when we were driving around one of these parks and monkeys jumped on our car. They broke the windows and the mom type got up on the roof. I think they were baboons. We didn't die, but that was scary stuff.
 
Katherine-Chappell-Main.jpg


I doubt the poor woman could have been saved, but surely you would drive your car into the animal to help her, rather than taking a fucking picture...
 
Elephants have been known to go on raids at night in India. Going into villages and fucking them up. Supposedly for revenge. Humans kill an Elephant, the herd comes back to fuck shit up.
Sounds terrifying
But all is not well in India either. This week thousands of people fled a village in Jharkhand after elephants kept returning for what appeared to be revenge raids after the death of a member of the herd. Indian officials say the villagers did not kill the elephant, a 17-year-old female. They say she strayed out of the forest into the village, fell into an irrigation ditch and drowned. The villagers gave her a respectful burial three days ago, but ever since the herd has attacked the village. "We have not slept for three days and the few of us left are lighting huge bonfires to keep the elephants at bay without success," one villager, Sambhu Mahato, told reporters.

And they're said to be as smart as primates too
Elephants show a remarkable ability to use tools, using their trunks like arms. Elephants have been observed digging holes to drink water and then ripping bark from a tree, chewing it into the shape of a ball, filling in the hole and covering over it with sand to avoid evaporation, then later going back to the spot for a drink. They also often use branches to swat flies or scratch themselves. Elephants have also been known to drop very large rocks onto an electric fence either to ruin the fence or to cut off the electricity. Asian Elephants in India have been known to break electric fences using logs and clear the surrounding wires using their tusks to provide a safe passageway.
 
Some people just need to find out the hard way that life outside your confined walls of your home and city is life threatening. This is not some zoo you are traveling in, but the habitat of the most dangerous animals on earth.

I pity for her life but she should have known better.
 

UrbanRats

Member
I can't even begin to comprehend the logic behind deciding to open your car window when next to a fucking lion, but i'm gonna go ahead and say that she probably had developed a very wrong idea of what a wild animal actually is.
Hell, already a cat will go bananas and scratch you for no reason, sometimes, imagine that coming from an animal with the head the size of your torso, and fangs the size of your fingers.

I guess occurrences like these are relatively low (even because interaction is minimal in modern days) but still, real life isn't an hallmark movie.
 

NEO0MJ

Member
I guess occurrences like these are relatively low (even because interaction is minimal in modern days) but still, real life isn't an hallmark movie.

Even if a wild animal wasn't aggressive, they can still kill by accident while playing with you.
 
I don't understand how automatically locking windows and doors is not required when going through an area like this? The tour guide should have those controls on his side, thus preventing tourists from being able to roll the windows down or open the doors.

It's literally two buttons that can save lives.
 

Tigress

Member
I don't think it's weird to expect them, if they want to nibble on what's inside, to paw and grope the car door and accidentally open it.

That lion wasn't randomly chewing at the door. She knew exactly what she was doing (notice she went straight for the door handle after sniffing around the door for a sec).

I bet though that's how she learned the trick.
 
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